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CHAPTER FIFTY

EASTON

“Try and keep up,” I taunted. Jayden was pouring sweat, and his stance was weak after over an hour of training with me. Coach was busy, and I had a fight tomorrow night, so when Jayden heard me complaining, he volunteered to help. I wasn’t sure he really knew what he was getting into.

“You’re a monster,” he panted. “How the hell are you still so bouncy? Are you on speed?”

I snorted, dropping my hands. He looked ready to collapse. He wasn’t going to be able to take another hit. “Maybe if you worked out more than once a year, you’d be able to keep up.”

“Next time I’m making Gary help you,” he complained, following me through the ropes and off the ring.

An actual ring, since I couldn’t exactly train on the streets.

Especially not with my brother. Gyms were safer.

He collapsed onto the bench beside the ring, guzzling half his water in one go. “Where is he, by the way?”

“With the wedding planner.”

“Ah. And how’s that going? Still planning on humiliating his family in an ultimate revenge plot?”

I gave him a flat look. “Yes. The only reason they’ve left him alone recently is because they’re too distracted with the wedding. He’s actually happy now. I’m not letting them get a hold on him again.”

“You love him,” he said with a smirk.

A grunt was the only reply he’d get. Gary was important to me. I looked forward to seeing him every day, and his smile settled me when I was pissed off. Was that love? Because my friends settled me, too. It wasn’t the same, I didn’t want to fuck them senseless every night, but still.

I didn't dwell on it. Gary liked the way things were. He told me he did. I didn’t need to change things. As long as he was happy, we were still good.

“You ever thought about actually sending in the papers?”

Frowning, I looked over at him. “What?”

He shrugged, leaning forward to rest his elbows on his knees.

“You two seem really happy. And you’ve been together long enough now to know each other pretty well.

You’re planning a whole wedding together.

The only thing we were going to leave out was the paperwork part of it.

But if you can see yourself spending forever with Gary, then it might be worth considering.

” He thought about it for a minute before adding, “Then you wouldn’t have to do this twice if you decide to get married in the future. You’ll already be married.”

He let me think about it, disappearing into the locker room to rinse off while I sat on that bench, staring into space.

Actually marry Gary? I never considered it before.

I was happy with the way things were now.

But… would filling out some paperwork really change anything?

Other than make him legally mine? I doubted it.

It wasn’t like we’d sign the paperwork, and he’d suddenly start demanding romantic shit.

Even when he planned dates for us, they were never romantic.

They were always fun and hilarious and playful.

That was us. A piece of paper wouldn’t change that. But it might make Gary happy.

I thought about it while I rinsed off and got dressed, and all the way to the car, but I couldn’t decide. Would he even want that? To be tied to me permanently?

My phone rang while we were putting our bags in the back of the car. The weather was nice enough for me to use my baby, but there wasn’t enough room for both of us and our bags, so we took Jayden’s car instead. I put my phone to my ear, heading for the passenger side.

“What?”

“Um… Okay. Please don’t kill me. I didn’t know,” the wedding planner pleaded.

I stiffened. “What happened?”

“Okay, so, I was going over the seating chart with Gary, and we got to talking about the ceremony. I noticed he was a little nervous about the number of people, but I figured that was normal. I probably shouldn’t have mentioned it, but I reminded him about his vows since I hadn’t gotten a copy of them yet.

He went super pale, and the next thing I knew, he fainted. ”

My stomach dropped, and I shot Jayden a horrified look over the top of the car.

He frowned. “What is it?”

“Keys. Gimme your damn keys.”

I raced around the front of the car, snatching the keys mid-air after Jayden tossed them to me. I’d give my brother one thing, he knew when not to pester me asking stupid questions. He dodged into the passenger seat right as I started up the car, handing him the phone so he could put it on speaker.

“Where is he?”

“On the way to the hospital. I think he would've been okay, but I didn’t see him in time to catch him and he smacked his head. The paramedics said he’d probably be fine, and he was awake when they took him away, but they wanted to bring him to the hospital as a precaution.”

“Which hospital?” Jayden demanded, holding tight to the oh-shit handle as I took a corner too sharply. “Dammit, Easton, slow down, or we’ll end up joining him on a stretcher.”

“Jefferson Memorial. Since I’m not family, I wasn’t allowed to ride with him, but I’m behind them. We’re maybe two minutes out.”

“I’m on my way.”

I ignored a few red lights to get to the hospital quickly, and Jayden looked a little pale by the time we arrived, but I needed to get to Gary. I left parking the car up to my brother and raced into the emergency room, looking around wildly for any sign of Gary.

“Can I help you?” a craggy charge nurse frowned at me from a desk nearby.

“I’m looking for Gary Nelson.”

“Are you family?” she said dubiously, studying me like I was some kind of criminal. I hated people like that and usually I’d say something, but I didn't have the patience right now.

“He’s my fiancé.”

She pursed her lips, but eventually nodded and waved her hand towards the curtained off beds behind her. “Bay three.”

Jogging around the desk, I went to the curtain with the big three painted onto the floor below it. When I poked my head past it, I let out a breath of relief. He was sitting in the middle of it, his legs crossed, and he didn’t look any worse for wear to me.

“Gary.”

He wrinkled his nose, embarrassed. “In my defense, I told them I was fine. I didn’t need to be here.”

The relief was dizzying. I marched straight over to his bed and pulled him into my arms. He buried his face against me with a sigh.

“What happened?”

“Remember that time I was asked to present in our History of Ethics course?”

“Yeah. You– Oh.” He almost passed out, he was so nervous. He ended up hyperventilating, and I had to take him out of the room. The professor only passed him because he said Gary pushed through until he couldn’t, and he admired his gumption.

“You don’t have to do anything that scares you. You know that, right?”

“So we can cancel the big wedding and elope instead? I’d be okay if it was just you and me.”

That made me smile, and I shifted so I was sitting next to him in the bed with him tucked up against my side.

“If I thought we’d be able to do it and still humiliate your family into fucking off, I’d say yes.

But this isn’t the same as last time. You won’t be up there alone.

And I’ll hurt anyone who even looks at you wrong. ”

He snickered, the sound muffled with his face pressed against me.

After a few minutes of quiet, he sighed and straightened.

“I thought it was standard, and I wouldn’t have to do anything but repeat the words said to me.

Actually writing something heartfelt and saying it in front of literally hundreds of people, most of which I don’t know but are extremely rich and important to your family, sounds… terrifying.”

“Who said anything about heartfelt?”

If that was part of it, I would refuse outright. I told the wedding planner to leave the romantic shit to a minimum. It was a party. The ceremony part would be short and to the point. Then Gary and I would drink and eat cake and have fun. His family would be gone by that point anyway.

“Ben said it’s expected that we write our own vows.” He twisted his fingers and bit his lip in a nervous habit. “This is way bigger than I expected, Easton. I’m not sure I can do it.”

Pressing my lips together, I considered what to say to him.

After more than half a year together, I knew Gary pretty well.

I knew how to handle it when his emotions got out of whack.

But this was bigger than testing anxiety or talking to his roommate about moving in with me permanently.

Gary hated being the center of attention.

He could handle it when it was just me and sometimes with our friends, but he preferred to stay on the sidelines.

I was asking a lot from him with this whole scheme.

“Does it help if I tell you I don’t give a shit about anyone’s opinion at the party?”

The flat look he gave me said no, it really didn’t. I snorted.

“Okay, look at it this way. Anything you say in your vows will be vastly better than mine. You know I don’t do that romantic stuff.

I was probably going to make Jayden write them for me, because I have no idea where to start.

You could say you only like me for my dick, and I’d still have worse vows than you.

That’d actually be hilarious, so if that’s what you planned–”

He slapped his hands over my mouth to stop me, his shoulders shaking as he fought back laughter. “I’m not going to say that!”

I smiled behind his palms but didn’t make him move his hands. He looked less pale now, which was an improvement. Making him laugh was the best way to distract him most of the time. He did the same thing with me.

When he dropped his hands and sighed, I tipped my head to get him to look at me. “How about this? Let’s keep the show out of it. You write down whatever the hell you want, and if anyone has a problem with it, I’ll kick their ass. Deal?”

He twisted his mouth in a vain attempt to hide his smile and nodded once. “Deal.”

“Good. That day is going to be annoying as fuck. I’ll need an excuse to hurt someone.”

“Easton!” he protested, laughing. “Don’t get arrested on our wedding day!”

Listening to him laugh and argue with me on the merits of a fight at a wedding, I made up my mind.

I was never going to give Gary up. And we already signed a prenup.

Might as well sign the paperwork and make our relationship legally binding, too.

That way no one in the fucking world could take him from me.